Yet another in a series of layoffs struck the San Francisco offices of NetGuide Live Thursday, effectively gutting what was left of a staff that once numbered more than 200. The move came as part of a wholesale reorganization of CMP Media, Inc.'s Web site efforts, according to NetGuide Live employees who heard the news at a morning staff meeting.
. Rebecca Barna, a vice president in CMP's Interactive Media Group told the assembled staff that CMP was folding its online publishing efforts - TechWeb, NetGuide Live, and the web version of Net Guide magazine - into an "online hub" that will be called CMPNet.
As part of the reorganization, the company will lay off at least 24 members of NetGuide Live's approximately 50-person San Francisco staff, employees said. That number may grow, however. Prior to the announcement, eight employees were approached by management and asked to remain with NetGuide Live; some of those employees have reportedly refused.
CMP managers were meeting with affected employees one-by-one. Laid-off staff were offered one week's severance pay and asked to leave the company's premises within two hours, a source said.
Manhasset, New York-based CMP said that Beth Haggerty, currently publishing director of NetGuide Live and NetGuide magazine, will be promoted to head of the company's Interactive Media Group. Robert Seidman, appointed NetGuide Live project director in December with the mission of reorganizing and redesigning the site, will stay in his position.
CMP spokespersons did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment on the changes.
Although it shares a name with CMP's New York-based NetGuide magazine, NetGuide Live has operated as a separate unit since its launch in August 1996.
In an interview Wednesday, Fred Davis, a NetGuide Live founder who left the operation in February, said, "I won't speculate on what's happening tomorrow." (Davis continues to work for CMP on other projects.)
"There were many talented people that worked there," Davis said. "This is a temporary setback, and it saddens me."
Ironically, the news at NetGuide Live came on the same day that Michael Wolff, publisher of the NetGuide book series, resigned his position as president at Wolff New Media. Wolff, who sold the rights to the NetGuide name for use in magazines and online to CMP in 1994, cited conflicts with investors over Wolff New Media's own financing difficulties.
"Here is yet another cautionary lesson of what happens when expectations exceed reality. Our investors hoped to have realized a fantastic return on their investment by now. Instead, they came face to face with an uncertain market in an industry still looking for its basic business model. The Internet will be a wonderful, lucrative business, but not necessarily overnight," Wolff said in an email statement.
